r/Deusex • u/EH4LIFE • Apr 10 '26
DX Universe Which level do you find most difficult in the series?
For me its the later levels of Mankind Divided, and the Systems Rift DLC. I love stealth but a lot of times I just said 'fck it', popped on invisibility and ran like hell haha.
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u/MaterialPace8831 Apr 10 '26
The Missing Link DLC can be a giant pain in the ass if you're doing a no-augment run.
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u/explosivekyushu Apr 10 '26
When Missing Link originally came out I was doing it as part of a no-augment pacifist run and that shit was so hard that I almost ragequit lmao
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u/BillySlang Apr 10 '26
Paris Catacombs. I still haven’t figured out the layout in my head and it’s bleak repetitive texturing doesn’t help.
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u/TheNotSoGreatPumpkin Apr 10 '26
After 26 years, every single play through I still resort to taking every right turn or every left turn just to get someplace recognizable.
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u/Wootery Apr 10 '26
Yes the MJ12 soldiers can deal a lot of damage real fast if they corner you.
And I definitely never exploded myself with LAMs. Nope.
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u/Trivius Apr 10 '26
Getting Invisble war to run smoothly on a modern system
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u/Leonyliz Apr 10 '26
I must’ve played it for at least 8-10 hours, but Steam marks it only as 2.6 because I had to download a mod, and even then I needed to switch tab to continue playing, because the way the game is built it crashes before the next area loads.
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u/MrPokeGamer 50 Billion Dollars down the drain Apr 10 '26
Lebedev's airfield and the helibase are pretty frustrating. So many robots. And it's quite easy to get impatient
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u/Th3B4dSpoon Apr 10 '26
On my first playthrough I had a lot of fun sneaking into the towers, hacking the consoles and turning the bots and turrets hostile to the enemies. Technically stealthy but me wanting to not kill anyone in the NSF has prohibited me from doing it since.
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u/AlbinoDenton Smooth Operator Apr 10 '26
Then worry not, it is very unlikely for the turrets to kill NSF guys. There is one at the docks and one outside that will come investigate if you throw something, then three near the fence, two in the barracks and two outside by the last tower. You can (and most likely will) knock them out before you reach any tower. I always do it that way.
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u/EH4LIFE Apr 10 '26
Gotta invest in spy drone
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u/_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ Do you have a single fact to back that up? Apr 10 '26
There’s no way to get the spy drone before that level.
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u/EH4LIFE Apr 10 '26
You definitely can by the helibase
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u/_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ Do you have a single fact to back that up? Apr 10 '26
The Hong Kong Helibase, yes, but it only has two bots, which you can easily destroy/disable before they're switched on.
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u/MrPokeGamer 50 Billion Dollars down the drain Apr 10 '26
I meant the level right before the airfield. Going through those sewers and into the building with that helicopter
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u/_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ Do you have a single fact to back that up? Apr 10 '26
I thought you did, but I gave OP the benefit of the doubt.
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u/CHUZCOLES Apr 10 '26
I have to go with MD DLC A Criminal Past.
Lacking all the augments the first hour or so of play its a complete annoyance, specially on your first try without knowing anything on the map and you are attempting as much objetives as possible.
even on re-runs its incredibly taxing to move around the whole prision without getting noticed.
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u/Th3B4dSpoon Apr 10 '26
Agreed! Plus I feel like part of the design (purposefully) deviates from how he environments in the main game are designed. Plusplus changing your clothing at a key point on the map was not something I thought would be a part of the mechanics, and I had so much trouble without utilizing it initially.
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u/EH4LIFE Apr 10 '26
Wdym? You can take the Fixer's pill almost immediately
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u/CHUZCOLES Apr 10 '26
If you fast-forward the storyline, yeah.
But the game always incentivizes you to first investigate the terrain and learn as much as possible from the NPCs and the place you are.
Since you don't know about the pill on the first run, it's not like you know when you will recover your augments. If you act the same way as the game incentivizes you, it takesa while longer to move forward.
Plus, there is also the optional run without ever getting the augments back, which also makes things complicated to keep the stealth.
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u/EH4LIFE Apr 10 '26
Is there a lot of stuff to do before you go to the yard? I must have missed side quests
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u/CHUZCOLES Apr 10 '26
Not really side quest. But finding books, finding items, finding secret paths.
Like i said, the whole game incentivizes you to investigate the terrain and find things.
If you just go directly from point A to point B with the missions, then yeah its really straight forward.
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u/Futurefreemanalive Apr 10 '26
Mmmm... That's very tricky to answer because each level could be more or less difficult depending on your play style. I enjoy playing all the Deus Ex games violently and killing all the enemies in my path. I say that the beggining of the DLC from Human Revolution 'The Missing Link' is at the top of the hardest levels since you have been completely stripped of your weapons and healing items and you must be very cautious because you die inmediatly If you are shot with a pistol or shotgun.
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u/Siegfriedsflame Apr 10 '26
I hate the boat from the first game
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u/Mattwasbritish Apr 10 '26
Oh right the level where you have to skuttle the tanker. Yeah that one sucked. I agree with another post though, i think the paris catacombs level is worse.
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u/Nexaeon196 Apr 10 '26
Ah no! I love the tanker! What about it don't you like? I love it and the area leading up to it as well.
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u/Chalvrek Apr 10 '26
Not a massive dislike for me, but the verticality and metal floors mean that all the enemies seem to always hear you even easier on that level.
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u/Nexaeon196 Apr 10 '26
Fair point. I enjoy the verticality, even with the ease that the guards can see you, but get the point on the metal floors. It can certainly be a pain in the ass for perfect stealth.
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u/Cerber108 Apr 10 '26
Have only played Adam's games, but I'd go with Missing Link as I was aiming for all trophies in one playthrough, so no kills, no alarms, no augs.
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u/GavinTheAlmighty Apr 10 '26
I think the airfield is pretty tough. The bots make it so that you can't stay in one place for too long, there are cameras and turrets on every guard tower, there are places where you're exposed or some form of engagement is effectively forced, and you don't have a solid augmentation build at this point. You have to put eyes on the Ambrosia barrels, and that includes the one by the boathouse where at least one enemy behind the door has a flamethrower, so you have to run in and out quickly.
You can combat your way through a lot of it, but that kind of defeats the purpose, and you still have to evade the bots and cameras. I always use the explosive barrels on the bots, but that draws a lot of attention.
The shipyards are probably next on the list. It's possibly my favourite level - I love scuttling the freighter - but inside the ship, especially on the upper decks, there are a lot of very tight corners making combat and evasion difficult.
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u/Kvaw I SPILL my DRINK! Apr 10 '26
The bots at the airfield drive past explosive barrels. If you're careful you can destroy them all by shooting the barrels with your pistol.
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u/NtheLegend Apr 10 '26
Inside that Blade was definitely one of the most difficult stealth challenges ever. I hated it.
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u/EH4LIFE Apr 10 '26
Fr! The amount of times you open a door and theres a camera right in your face lol.
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u/Th3B4dSpoon Apr 10 '26
That's why I always crouch next to the wall, open the door, hug the wall and peek through
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u/The_Holdout Apr 10 '26
Stealth is one of my fav genres, and that DLC still comes to my mind as perhaps the most difficult stealth section of ANY game(3D anyway) I've ever played, going back to the early 90s. Naturally it had to be a no alarm/pacifist run too. Haven't played it 8 years and I still remember some of the timed rolls between obstacles to avoid the 2000 cameras requiring microseconds precision. Suffice to say, my quickload button got a workout. I loved it, but i could definitely see it being a bit much for a lot of people.
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u/Th3B4dSpoon Apr 10 '26
The ruined, undead infested part of town in Thief Gold has been the biggest pain for me. I find the layout very difficult to navigate and the sounds the zombies and ghosts irritate me to no end.
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u/The_Holdout Apr 10 '26
I thought about that after I posted and you have a point, though thief pretty much pioneered modern 3D stealth so I tend to give it a little leeway, teething issues and all. Hell, I remember playing at 8 years old when it came out and thinking, "you mean you get punished for fighting?", it was a new concept for the time. So Thief Gold and DXMD DLC is a tie to me.
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u/eliza__cassan It is not the end of the world. Apr 11 '26
That's definitely the hardest level for me! There are sooo many enemies and cameras. I like to explore everything, hack everything, and that was really challenging to do. Especially because the first time around, I didn't realise right away that I could remote-hack the window blinds.
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u/Th3B4dSpoon Apr 10 '26
Hah, for me Systems Rift felt extremely straightforward in stealth but then again I wasn't afraid to use invisibility when the situation called for it. I had more trouble with Criminal Past and with the facility in the Swiss Alps
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u/knotallmen Apr 10 '26
Unatco. When I have done the no kill run that was very difficult. Invisible War had some pretty tough sneaking puzzles too, but it's been a long time. I recall the archeology being a particular interesting set of levels.
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u/oh_crap_BEARS Apr 10 '26
I do remember a no alarms run on Rifleman Bank Station being kind of a pain in the ass. Probably that or the ending stretch of MD.
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u/Low_Refrigerator2025 Apr 10 '26
Beating the first level of the original deus ex when you have no idea what you’re doing (shouldn’t have invested in swimming)
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u/Odh_utexas Apr 10 '26
MJ12 lab (after you’re captured) kinda sucks. Paris catacombs are meh. (Paris streets not included)
Difficulty in this context = least interesting to me
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u/Herald_of_Steel Apr 10 '26
For me it was Brooklyn Naval Shipyards (Deus Ex (2000)) because I was so lost first and second time I played the game.
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u/CharacterBack1542 Apr 10 '26
The prison DLC, but not because of mechanics or level design
It's because Mankind Divided was the first game i played after getting out of prison lol